Hike in the high desert mountains
- Thread starter Ravenbird
- Start date
jazzies mum
Hot Topics Subscriber
I love that wild and open environment! And the colour of your sky is awesome, such a deep violet blue. Asha gets some lovely off leash time too! Does she ever get cactus thorns or is she good at dodging them?
The sky is famous for being brilliant blue in New Mexico due to high altitude and low humidity. Low humidity enhances the brilliance, also works for night skies & stars. I'm surrounded by literally millions of acres of public land and can hike to my hearts content. I have to keep reminding myself how lucky I am when I complain about no training or trials close by! The cactus made Asha so mad as a puppy and when they "bit" her she'd slap them back, of course getting "bitten" again by doing so. She'd actually bark at them.
After a few months of this and she learned to avoid them and rarely gets cactus thorns. I don't know how they learn, but she and Reckless go on miles and miles of hikes with cactus everywhere and may get one or two thorns in a year.
Beautiful, both Asha and the nature around you.
It's different from the high desert of the Sonoran Desert in which I grew up. I'm used to a lot more tan and less green, but they're equally beautiful.
I never had to pull many cactus needles out of Dobe, no; but the fine, hair-like Prickly Pear ones are the worst offenders, overall.
It's different from the high desert of the Sonoran Desert in which I grew up. I'm used to a lot more tan and less green, but they're equally beautiful.
I never had to pull many cactus needles out of Dobe, no; but the fine, hair-like Prickly Pear ones are the worst offenders, overall.
Wow the color of the flowers against the tan background! Beautiful! Looks like such a fun area to hike. Do you ever come across mountain lion or something like that?
Ugh. I had one like that as a houseplant years ago that I touched. Yes, what a pain trying to get those fine little hairs out of you!
They are here, my nextdoor neighbor had one on his driveway critter cam, but I've never seen one.
Yeah bunny ears are like that and one little brush against them was all it took. I don't keep those anymore for that reason.
I was wondering how long it took for her to learn and then how bad of an injury? Is it equal to a porcupine? Do they have barbs which makes it very hard to pull out?
Isn’t that the famous fallen tree of many pictures with Asha? Does the tree/area have a name?
Isn’t that the famous fallen tree of many pictures with Asha? Does the tree/area have a name?
Kaiser2016
Well-Known Member
Awesome hike! Love the shot of her by her favorite fallen tree!
Cactus are all different. Some have long needles that poke but don't release from the plant (think rose bush, but sharper), others Cholla (pronounced Choy-a) have fine hairy-soft bristles that embed in the skin and you can feel it but they are hard to see and so tiny you can't grasp them to pull out. It was mostly those long thorn cactus that Asha would first poke with her nose then slap with her paw when she got mad at it. I had to laugh. She was about 4 - 5 months old. She'd be running along and spot one and stop and start barking at it. No big injuries at all, she just figured out that it was a losing battle and gave it up.
No name. I took a picture of Asha with feet up on it when she was a youngster so it's kinda a fun thing to keep doing. It's on my favorite short hike out my front door, about 45 minutes, but steep climbs up & down - phone says it's 18 - 21 floors.
The Southwest is THE awesome hiking destination.
Hear me out here.
There’s the geographical aspect.
There’s the fact your line of sight is miles and miles.
It gives a good perspective of where you were and where you are going.
The pics do not do justice (like many places) of exactly where you are.
The sight, the smell, the dry air which is a topic of another thread.
It’s a difficult place to live today
Yet when you walk, you know some native person walked there, some hundreds of years before the first European and you.
And they lived, loved and thrived, in this unforgiving and harsh place.
Hear me out here.
There’s the geographical aspect.
There’s the fact your line of sight is miles and miles.
It gives a good perspective of where you were and where you are going.
The pics do not do justice (like many places) of exactly where you are.
The sight, the smell, the dry air which is a topic of another thread.
It’s a difficult place to live today
Yet when you walk, you know some native person walked there, some hundreds of years before the first European and you.
And they lived, loved and thrived, in this unforgiving and harsh place.
LifeofRubie
Well-Known Member
Isn't that how they hunt? You don't see them until... You do
my husband's parents went cougar hunting many years ago and the way to hunt them is to basically allow them to hunt you, as I'm told.Love the photos of all the color the desert truly has to offer!
I have no idea about hunting them. I thought using a pack of hunting dogs was the thing, but I really don't know. I do know they are elusive, especially in the day they snooze in a tree or cave-type area, hunting mainly at night. The one on the neighbors critter cam was just sauntering through, like walking on a path, not actively hunting. I'd probably stay happy to never see one.
No telling how many have seen me!
LOL, good point when they can be in trees and stuff. I'm always eyes to the ground watching for snakes so I might not see something standing next to me. LOL
Another nice hike yesterday, a bit over 2 hours, no trail, just following the dry creek bed. Some kind of water loving plant/weed that looks similar to alfalfa has grown to over 4 - 5 feet tall, so hard to keep sight of the dogs at all times, but they stick pretty close. A funny thing happened, I felt a bug crawling on the back of my arm - like a BIG bug, maybe a grasshopper, but it was big enough I could feel the little claw feet. Could have been a butterfly, but you know what happens when you can't see it? Yup, I squealed pretty loud, jumped around slapping at it. The funny thing though was Asha tearing through those tall weeds to get to me. She came running right up to me jumped up, poked at me ("you ok?"then spun around looking for the boogie man in true rescue fashion. I've always wondered if she would do that if she heard me scream, but when I tried it she knew I was faking it and thought I was wanting to play. Yesterday for just those 10 seconds I could see honest concern for my well-being. That was pretty cool.
MichiH
Hot Topics Subscriber
Beautiful photos! What a good girl she came to save you
Similar threads
